SILVER FIGURE, FABERGÉ DESK HARE-BELL WITH GARNET EYES HOUSE OF C.

An exquisite silver figure of a desk electric bell in the form of a hare standing upright on its hind legs with ears raised. The lively and playful modelling is masterfully rendered with precise anatomical proportions and a sense of movement. The finely detailed fur combines the highest quality casting with delicate chasing, accentuated by expressive garnet eyes. Inside the piece is an original mechanism for transmitting an electric signal, activated by pressing the hare’s eyes. Marks: Saint Petersburg assay office mark with the number 84 — silver standard and the head of a woman in a kokoshnik facing left, in an oval, corresponding to the period 1899–1908; poorly legible mark of the workshop of Y. A. Rappoport; French import mark of a swan in an oval. Dimensions: Height: 13 cm Weight: 410 g Provenance: Expert appraisal by the State Historical Museum, 7 March 2000; a closely related hare by Fabergé is in the collection of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (Richmond, USA), Thomas Pratt Collection, catalogue no. 21.

Estimate:$22,337.38

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